Dr Automotive Design and Tools

Vehicles driven by electric motors need large quantity of power semiconductor devices such as IGBTs, MOSFETs, Diodes, Power converter and battery management ICs, microcontroller chips, automotive specific networking chips, sensors and other non-semiconductor components.

There is nothing wrong in calling electric car also as electronic car. It's full of silicon and copper. Market analysis firm IMS research forecasts that demand for electric vehicles will grow steadily throughout the decade ahead from less than 600,000 in 2008 to over 12 million in 2020. From luxury car makers to low cost car makers, electric and hybrids are the design priority.

IMS says from a semiconductor supplier's point of view, growing production volumes of electric vehicles are only one side of the equation. The other side is that the value of semiconductors in an electric vehicle drivetrain is not only higher than in a conventional vehicle drivetrain: according to the IMS Research report, it is over 10 times higher!

Jon Cropley of IMS said, "These vehicles have significant power IC, power discrete and power module content. Much of this is for the inverter required to drive the vehicle's main motor/generators. However, many other electric vehicle drivetrain applications require semiconductors including battery monitoring and control, DC/DC converters, AC/DC chargers and air conditioning converters".

IMS Report says many semiconductor suppliers have so far found it difficult to enter the supply chain for electric vehicles. Japanese vehicle manufacturers have dominated production and have either used their own semiconductors or used semiconductors from suppliers they part own (Keiretsu partners). These barriers to market entry look set to disappear as vehicle manufacturers from other regions ramp up production and Japanese vehicle manufacturers look for competing semiconductor vendors.

According to the IMS Research report, the market could be worth over $7 billion in 2020.

Some of the detail included in Tesla Motor's IPO filing discloses to potential investors the companies revenues will decrease substantially before the Model S is rolled out due to the fact that Tesla will cease selling its roadsters in 2011 and won't resume production on a new sports car model until at least late 2013.

The ramifications of this announcement are that Tesla will not be manufacturing ANY vehicles for anything up to and beyond a full year between canceling Roadster production and starting Model S production.

We have previously looked at the possibility of how Tesla might go about having the Model S actually manufactured but it seems even with the recent DoE $465 Million loan, $100 Million cash in the bank and possibly raising another $100 Million from an IPO they will still be stuck in between. The only disclosure given in the IPO filing about WHY Roadster production will be stopped is "due to planned tooling changes at a supplier for the Tesla Roadster"

Seeing as the entire Roadster is outsourced this could refer to ANY part on the car no longer being available after next year, but it is most likely either a tool at Lotus or the chassis manufacture Hydro Raufoss Automotive, a division of Norsk Hydro, that is being scrapped.

The chassis is built primarily from extruded aluminum epoxied together. Extrusion tooling is not all that expensive as most extruders will amortize the tooling charge over a volume run. Beyond the bonded chassis there isn't a hell of a lot of tooling involved from a mechanical stand point as the Lotus/Tesla runs a standard manual steering rack, dual wishbone front and rear suspension and ... not much else. We would presume the molds for the carbon bodywork would already belong to Tesla as they are custom to that car.



While Tesla may be unwilling to reveal exactly why they are killing the Roadster for the time being, we doubt they will be able to get away with this level of secrecy once they go public.

These shadowy details raise the risk profile of investing Tesla significantly. The company has already sneakily moved the Model S launch date back a year, hasn't signed a lease on a vehicle production facility location yet, let alone started installing the plant equipment required to actually manufacture the cutting edge all aluminum chassis, yet we're being asked to believe Tesla can pull this off single-handedly on time and within budget.

As Tesla admit in the SEC filing "The launch of the Model S could be delayed for a number of reasons and any such delays may be significant and would extend the period in which we would generate limited, if any, revenues from sales of our electric vehicles."

To date the Model S project consists of a drivable prototype not a full production intent prototype. There is no final design for the Model S, no manufacturing facility and no manufacturing process.

Perhaps when the full prospectus is released it will shed some light on just who will actually be manufacturing the Model S. With Tesla Motors total lack of experience at manufacturing anything at all in-house, they certainly need a credible manufacturing partner to give potential investors some confidence that this won't all end as a Billion dollar car wreck.

The BMW Vision EfficientDynamics plug-in hybrid 2+2 concept car rolled out in September at the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show is earmarked for production.

Reaction to the 356-horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque plug-in electric series hybrid with dedicated lighter-weight three-cylinder diesel range-extending engine mounted amidships has been off the charts.

Sources say that total volume is being debated, but that it will fall between 5,000 and 10,000 units. The prototype's powertrain and basic sub-3,000-pound assembly will remain intact, but, says the source, "there will be less of the synthetic glass and more solid structure added to the final design." g to migrate toward being a sort of sleek Toyota Prius? Let's hope not.


The BMW future product engineers are also tinkering nonstop with the hybrid drive system in order to make the Vision EfficientDynamics more powerful. It should be even quicker than the previously quoted 4.8 seconds to 62 mph.

Electric-car company Tesla Motors filed for an initial public offering Friday, seeking $100 million in the public-financing arena following the Department of Energy closing its $465 million loan to Tesla last week.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Tesla filed documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, but did not indicate in the filing when those shares would be sold on the public markets, nor what the initial price would be. Company executives could not be immediately reached for comment.

The IPO is the first by a U.S. automaker since Ford Motor Co. entered the public markets in 1956. The company has not been profitable. Since its founding in 2003, it has lost $236.4 million, according to its filing. During the first nine months of 2009, it lost $31.5 million. The company said it has $106.5 million in cash as of Sept. 30.

Tesla first started selling its $100,000 all-electric sports car, the Roadster, in 2008 and followed that up last year with the Roadster 2. The company claims in its IPO filing that the car has a range of 236 miles on a single charge, and says it has sold 937 of the vehicles in 18 countries.

It is designing a sedan designed for family use, the Model S, which would run for $49,900 after a $7,500 federal tax credit, the company's IPO said. The sedan would have a range of 160 to 300 miles on a single charge.

In addition, Tesla is negotiating with Daimler AG to provide its electric powertrain and battery technology for Daimler's Smart fortwo car. One thousand Tesla battery packs and chargers are being used in a trial with Smart fortwo cars in five European cities.

Tesla said it has taken out a $465 million long-term loan with the Energy Department under its advanced-vehicles manufacturing program to build a facility that will manufacture the Model S. The company added that it has been given up to $31 million under similar California state programs.

Tesla's loan could give the government a stake in the automaker when it goes public. According to the filing, the Energy Department received warrants to purchase more than 9 million shares of Tesla when the loan closed on Jan. 20.

In the filing, Tesla indicated its revenue will decrease substantially before the Model S is rolled out -- expected to be sometime in 2012. That is because Tesla will cease selling its roadsters in 2011 and won't resume production on a new model until at least 2013.

Tesla named Goldman Sachs Group , Morgan Stanley , J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Deutsche Bank AG as underwriters.

Chrysler parteciperà alla procedura di arbitrato per i concessionari il cui mandato fu revocato dal tribunale fallimentare di New York nell’ambito del Chapter 11 (la procedura che si applica alle imprese in crisi, finalizzato a conservarne gli asset e dare contemporanea soddisfazione ai creditori, ndr). L’arbitrato (che vale sia per Chrysler sia per GM) è stato introdotto da una legge approvata dal parlamento U.S.A. alla fine dell’anno scorso (ovvero ben dopo la decisione del tribunale di New York) tesa a vedere reintegrati molti dei concessari revocati. I 409 concessionari i cui contratti sono stati respinti, infatti, hanno presentato istanza di arbitrato per ottenere il reintegro del mandato e la Chrysler si sta preparando a partecipare attivamente al processo. Anche perché una robusta rete di concessionari è una componente fondamentale della strategia del Gruppo per riguadagnare quote nel mercato automobilistico americano. A complimentarsi per questa decisione della casa automobilistica è stato il leader democratico al Congresso, Steny H. Hoyer: “Sono lieto di sapere che la Chrysler ha deciso di intervenire nella procedura di arbitrato per i concessionari. Chrysler vuole così affermare il suo impegno per una forte rete di concessionari, una decisione che punta a difendere il posto di lavoro di cittadini americani e consente all’azienda di fornire ai mercato i suoi prodotti gettando le premesse affinche’ possa tornare alla redditività. Voglio ringraziare l’amministratore delegato della Chrysler, Sergio Marchionne, per aver deciso di lavorare con noi su questo tema”.
(Fonte: www.aziende-oggi.it - 29/1/2010)

U.S. lawmakers moved Thursday to investigate the gas- pedal problems that prompted Toyota Motor Corp this week to suspend the production and sale of some of its most popular models.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee said it would hold a hearing Feb. 25 " to examine persistent consumer complaints" about unintended acceleration of vehicles that led to the Japanese auto maker's largest-ever safety recall. The committee said it would also look into the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's response to the matter. The announcement followed days of meetings among committee members, Toyota and NHTSA officials.

""While our meeting with Toyota officials yesterday was helpful, we continue to have questions about what was done to investigate and resolve this safety issue both by Toyota and NHTSA," Rep. Bart Stupak (D., Mich.), chairman of the committee's oversight and investigations panel, said. "Incidences of sticking accelerators have been ongoing with Toyota vehicles for up to a decade, and have led to a disproportionally high number of deaths. Failure to take every step possible to prevent future deaths or injury is simply unacceptable."

A statement put out by Rep. Henry Waxman (D., Calif.), the Energy & Commerce Committee chairman, said that "sudden acceleration events" in Toyota vehicles have led to 19 deaths in the past decade, nearly twice the number of deaths associated with similar events in cars manufactured by all other automakers combined. The statement said that information was based on NHTSA statistics.

Toyota said in a statement that the auto maker "planned full cooperation" with the committee.

"Helping ensure the safety of our customers and restoring confidence in Toyota are very important to our company," the company said.

Stupak and Waxman said they wrote to Toyota and NHTSA requesting information and documents showing when they first learned of potential safety defects and what actions were taken to address them.

An NHTSA spokeswoman said her agency will cooperate with the committee's review of the matter.

Stupak said his staff has been meeting with officials at Toyota and the U.S. Department of Transportation about the issue and that all sides planned to meet again Thursday.

Wednesday, Toyota said it was expanding a recall announced late last year involving pedals catching on floor mats. That recall originally affected 4.3 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles, making it the company's biggest recall ever. Toyota has added 1.1 million more vehicles to that recall, representing four models. The Prius is not involved in this temporary suspension of sales, but it looks like the Highlander Hybrid's sales are suspended.

Ferrari 599 GTB Hybrid will see the sunlight in the form of concept at Geneva on March 2. This will be the first hybrid model ever produced by the Italians.

Luca di Montezemolo has confirmed officially today that the first Ferrari’s hybrid model will be released on March 2, at the Geneva Motor Show. It will be based on the classic version of Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano.

The Ferrari 599 GTB’s hybrid will be similar to other models of this type and will use lithium-ion batteries, the Italian engineers will implement a system for regeneration of lost kinetic energy via the brakes, which will operate in a similar with the KERS in Formula 1. The absolute innovation will be represented by the fact that the model will have two electric motors that will work alternately. Thus, if the one of the motors sends power to the wheel that is cornering on the outside, the other will gather KERS energy from the wheel inside the turn. The two electric motors and batteries that will power them will be located near the rear axle.

In addition to the hybrid system, Ferrari 599 GTBHybrid will receive a start-stop system, another novelty for a model of the Maranello automaker. The start-stop system implemented on the 599 GTB should significantly reduce fuel efficiency and the emissions of the V12 engine of this model mainly in the urban landscape, which will help Italy reduce the carbon footprint of the brand.

Queensland University of Technology is aiming to have a lightweight, hand-launched, solar-powered unmanned air vehicle commercially available within 24 months following successful flight tests.

The Green Falcon solar UAV, which can provide 24h service without fuel or pollution, is particularly targeted at emergency services. Other potential applications include coastal and border surveillance; atmospheric and weather research and prediction; environmental, forestry, agricultural and oceanic monitoring; and imaging for the media and real estate industries.

Another possibility is monitoring fires. "Bush fires in Australia have killed many people and caused millions of dollars in damage. The Green Falcon is a next-generation warning system with remote sensing and visual data capability," says the university's aerospace avionics engineer Dr Felipe Gonzalez.

The UAV has a 2.5m (8.2ft) wingspan and weighs 4kg (8.8lb) without a payload and 5kg with. It is powered by 28 advanced highly efficient monocrystalline solar cells and features a maximum power point tracker, a purpose-built energy management system and an efficient lithium-ion battery, says Gonzalez.

Unlike other solar UAVs that have been developed, Gonzalez says the Green Falcon is cost-effective and easy to launch with minimum maintenance requirements. "The Green Falcon is lightweight, it can be hand-launched and costs are low compared with other UAVs available today," he says.

The design supports improved swarming capabilities compared with other UAVs, says Gonzalez, which will allow the Green Falcon to provide coverage over large areas in as short a time possible, particularly useful in rescue or fire monitoring missions.

The Green Falcon performed its maiden flight in June. Work is currently focused on optimal flightpath planning ahead of the next flight-test campaign at the Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation/Queensland University of Technology's flight-test range facility near Kingaroy, Queensland.

To take the project further, including testing the methodology for continuous flying, funding in the region of A$50,000-80,000 ($45,000-75,000) is required or support in the areas of electronics, manufacturing and advanced wireless cameras, says Gonzalez.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced today that the Department of Energy has closed its $1.4 billion loan agreement with Nissan North America, Inc. to retool their Smyrna, Tennessee factory to build advanced electric automobiles and an advanced battery manufacturing facility. The two projects are expected to create up to 1,300 American jobs and conserve up to 65.4 million gallons of gasoline per year – an amount equal to six times the oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez in 1989.

“This is an investment in our clean energy future. It will bring the United States closer to reducing our dependence on foreign oil and help lower carbon pollution,” said Secretary Chu. “We are committed to making strides to revitalize the American auto industry and supporting the development of clean energy vehicles.”

Nissan plans to use the proceeds from the loan to produce its all-electric vehicle, the LEAF, at its existing Smyrna, Tennessee plant. Nissan will offer electric vehicles to fleet and retail customers, and plans to ramp up production capacity in Smyrna up to 150,000 vehicles annually.

Nissan is pursuing a global strategy of transitioning to electric vehicles. Building a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Smyrna, to produce 200,000 battery packs annually, is a significant part of that strategy. Nissan is also laying the groundwork in developing an infrastructure in the US to support electric vehicles. The company has formed partnerships with states, counties, municipalities, and electric utilities to prepare markets for the introduction of electric vehicles including the installation of charging stations.

Today’s announcement marks the third loan arrangement agreement signed by DOE with an advanced technology vehicle manufacturer. In September 2009, DOE signed its first loan agreement for $5.9 billion to Ford Motor Company. Last week, DOE also signed a $465 million loan agreement with Tesla Motors, which will be used to build manufacturing facilities in California for electric power-trains and Tesla's Model S electric sedan. The Department has also signed a conditional commitment with Fisker Automotive to build plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Tenneco, Inc. became the first advanced technology component manufacturer to obtain a conditional commitment from DOE in October of last year.

The Department was provided $7.5 billion for credit subsidy costs by Congress to cover up to $25 billion in direct loans to companies making cars and components in US factories that increase fuel economy at least 25 percent above 2005 fuel economy levels.

The agreement was negotiated and signed through the Department’s Loan Programs Office, which supports the development of innovative, advanced vehicle technologies to create thousands of clean energy jobs while helping reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.

As part of the Department of Energy’s commitment to advancing the next generation of electric vehicles in the United States, Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced the selection of a new demonstration and testing project to develop a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) school bus to be used in fleets across the country.

Navistar Corporation (Fort Wayne, IN) has been selected by the Department of Energy (DOE) for negotiation of a cost-shared award of up to $10 million to develop, test, and deploy an electric hybrid school bus. PHEVs will play an important role in achieving America’s energy independence by reducing petroleum use and greenhouse gas emissions. Today's announcement will also help meet President Obama’s goal of putting one million plug-in hybrid vehicles on the road by 2015.

“These projects will help move technologies from the laboratory to the marketplace by improving their durability, reducing their costs, and validating their performance in real-world settings,” said Secretary Chu. “By investing in the vehicles of the future, we will create new jobs while reducing our dependence on foreign oil and improving our environment.”

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles can be driven in electric-only or hybrid modes and recharged from a standard electrical outlet. They offer increased energy efficiency and decreased petroleum consumption by using electricity as the primary fuel for urban driving.

DOE will provide up to $10 million over three years (50 percent of the project’s projected total cost), subject to annual appropriations. Development will include examining hybrid architectures to achieve a 40-mile electric range, evaluating advanced energy storage devices, and operating on an emissions compliant diesel engine capable of running on renewable fuels. The project plans to deploy 60 vehicles for a three-year period in fleets across the nation.

By Ray Carrier

The wave of the future in transportation for consumers lies in switching over to using cleaner Green alternative fuels instead of continuing to waste with highly polluting gasoline from fossil fuels. The general public is becoming increasingly aware of the urgent need for everyone to start changing our consumption behavioral patterns if we want to save our planet, especially since the major conference in Copenhagen this past December when world leaders gathered to address the critical issue of climate change

Most of the attention about this topic in the news recently has been focused on electric cars, but for the next few years prices for many of these new products will remain fairly high and unaffordable for most consumers as the technology remains in the development stage. However here in the USA, unlike in many other areas of the world such as Europe and Asia where gasoline is more expensive and people are not so strongly attached to their cars, large portions of the population have already taken a different approach to realize significant savings, improve their health and help the environment by using Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs) - specifically electric bicycles and scooters - for much of their short distance travel.

Many American TV viewers were surprised to learn that in the city of Copenhagen, with a population of 500,000, there were more than 600,000 bicycles riding on its streets that people use to commute to work and take care of most of their daily errands. The same situation applies in neighboring bike-friendly Holland, and this trend has recently been rapidly gaining in popularity throughout Europe. The Dutch are leading the way in Europe, with fully 25% of commuters using bikes to travel an average of 6.3 km to work. Meanwhile, in Japan 15% of the population use their bicycles to commute to work, and even higher proportions do so in China, as compared to the USA where only 1.67% of Americans now commute by bicycle.

Most recently, the newest trend that has really been picking up steam in short distance transportation for both bicycle and car owners has been to switch over to using LEVs. The LEV industry is still a relatively new one, since the first modern LEV products were only introduced to mass markets a little more than 15 years ago during the early 1990s. The modern E-bike originated in Japan in the early 1980s, where the intent seemed to be to make cycling easier for the elderly. Because of extremely large local demand and very low labor and production costs, manufacturing was initially centered in China, where it still remains dominant. Today nearly 1 out of every 2 bikes sold in China are electric, and this pattern can be expected to expand globally - including in the USA - as more quality E-bikes become available at prices affordable to consumers.

During the past 5 years many Dutch have been switching to electric bikes that increases the average commuting distance traveled to 9.8 km. This has already had a noticeable effect in reducing carbon emissions and declining carbon footprints. An amazing 41% more E-bikes were sold in The Netherlands compared to the same period in 2008! During the first six months of 2009 alone a total of 105,000 electric bicycles were sold there. Meanwhile in the Netherlands, The successful sale of E-bikes is leaving its mark on other segments as 10% less city bikes were sold, while Trekking bikes dropped 6.6% and kids bikes with 12%. This is the trend for the future in the bicycle industry.

Although there were less than 100,000 LEVs sold in Europe only 5 years ago, in 2009 it is projected that annual sales will reach as many as 750,000, a 300% increase in sales over just 2 years since 2007, with 1 in 4 bike buyers in Holland buying LEVs. Germany is now starting to approach the numbers in Holland, and 1 in 10 people doing the same in mountainous Switzerland. It is estimated that more than 100 million people own LEVs in China alone today, and trends demonstrate that this is rapidly escalating. Elsewhere around the world, 170 nations bought e-bikes from China in 2008, and demand just keeps on rising. More than 23 million electric bicycles were sold in 2008, and Electric Bikes Worldwide Reports forecasts that globally E-bike sales will more than double by 2012.

Electric bicycles, commonly referred to as E-bikes, are still fairly new in the USA, with less than 200,000 sold to date, but they are rapidly emerging as a viable alternative form of transportation for those millions of people who enjoy and would rather ride a bicycle to get around and get some exercise from riding them to help stay in good physical shape.

Health officials in the USA emphasize that our modern cities need to better address the challenge of catering to the needs of a rapidly aging population as well as better tackling the important social issues of health and wellbeing for which maintenance of physical activity is seen as a key. One way more people can improve their physical condition is by frequent cycling on an E-Bike.

An important feature of E-bikes relates to how they can reduce physical effort, especially when ridden in cities where the topography includes lots of hills. This makes them very convenient for use among people with low initial fitness levels to help improve their physical performance, such as most Baby-Boomers, elderly and disabled and others with debilitating health conditions, such as arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and stroke victims.

By providing assistance to persons who want to get more exercise and stay in better shape, electric bicycles thus can help to maintain the rider’s heart rate in the aerobic zone when climbing uphill and so avoid spending excessive energy and straining their heart and risking bringing on an attack, whereas otherwise on a regular bike they might feel completely drained. In addition to helping people to just stay in shape, electric bikes can also be used by those who know they are overweight and want to do something about it to lose weight. On the other hand, people who use them for commuting to and from work can avoid sweating and getting overheated when they almost exclusively use the motor on hilly terrain to coast instead of pedaling.

Only very recently have very high quality electric bicycles been introduced to the US market typically ranging in price from $1000 to $2500, but it is very likely that they’ll soon quickly catch on in popularity, especially among Baby Boomers and slightly overweight people who no longer have the strength they once had and have grown flabby and out-of-shape over the years, or weak and more fragile persons, including elderly persons and those who are recovering from illnesses such as heart disease or accidents.

Many such people know that they need to get more exercise, but dislike bike riding because they think they will get tired too quickly if they went out on a long bike ride then had to return home exhausted. Riding an E-bike instead of pedaling all the way on a regular bicycle eliminates that excuse and opens the way for people to be able to exercise more than they normally would otherwise, and this helps them to get back in shape.

E-bikes solve this problem because riders can pedal all they want on a flat surface, using the gears like they would on a regular bike, but then when they reach a steep hill that ordinarily would be too much of a challenge for them to climb on a regular bike, or feel too tired from trying to follow a companion who is stronger and pedals faster, just turning on the throttle would get them over the hump effortlessly, and then when they’re ready to go back to pedaling again they can readily do so.

One interesting variation that can be expected to gain greater popularity in the near future, especially among commuters, is the compact umbrella-type of bike that can easily be folded up when it is not being used. Folding bikes take up very little space for storage and thus are ideal for taking indoors to tuck into the closet of someone’s small home or apartment, even if there are stairs to climb because they are relatively light-weight and can be easily rolled up them on their wheels. They can also be carried on public transit such as trains and buses where often even regular bicycles are not allowed to go during busy rush hour periods. They are also convenient to put into the truck your car to take with you far from home or when you travel.

Light-weight and compact folding electric bikes are especially suitable for owners of sail boats and recreation vehicles (RVs), people who travel around away from home for extended periods of time but would like to have a means of transportation to be able to easily travel short distances to get around, take care of errands, or pick up groceries and supplies when they moor their boats to a wharf or camp in an RV park and want to save money in high gasoline costs that accumulate quickly from driving around a heavy big RV over only short distances.

LEVs are especially useful in helping cash-squeezed consumers to save large sums of money from their transportation budget. Recent studies indicate that when the average person gets into their car, SUV or truck to go somewhere, more than 40% of the time they travel distances of less than 2 miles, and more than 50% of Americans live a distance of less than 5 miles from work. Everyone knows that it is the constant stop-and-go of driving in heavy traffic in urban areas that is responsible for causing much of the wear and tear on their vehicles and makes it necessary to keep bringing them back to the garage for regular maintenance check-ups and repairs that can be costly over time.

Short distant travel also means much higher consumption of gasoline as compared to driving longer distances on the open highway. The AAA issues annual reports on the total cost of driving that take into account a variety of factors including maintenance, insurance and other incidentals. In 2009 it was estimated that when gasoline costs $3 a gallon, the average driver spends almost exactly $10,000 per year to drive his/her car a distance of 20,000 miles. Looking at it from another angle, the average cost of owning, operating, maintaining, and driving a car comes out to 71 cents per mile for an average car driving an average of 10,000 miles per year. In contrast, it costs about 2.7 cents per mile to drive a LEV the same distance.

If you estimate that your average yearly commute amounts to about 8,000 miles, i.e. a distance of about 16 miles each way, the average car gets 23.9 miles per gallon, and gas is priced at about $3.00 a gallon, then you are paying more than $1,000 for gasoline alone when commuting. If instead you travel that distance in a LEV and can go about 30 miles on full charge, and electricity costs about $0.11 per kilowatt hour, it will cost you less than $30 a year for fuel, making commuting with a LEV much more affordable and cost effective in the long run. Another way of looking at how much money you can save with a LEV is that by spending a total of $100 on electricity for continuously recharging it, you should be able to travel a distance of more than 17,500 miles for that much money. To travel that same distance in a car, using the AAA average costs for driving, that would amount to $15,825 based on a price of $3 per gallon of gasoline.

This means that if you substituted and rode an LEV for most of their short distance travel instead of driving their car or SUV for that purpose, you could literally save several thousands of dollars every year from ever increasing transportation expenses, and more effectively use those savings to pay for other purchases or bills. Recently gas prices have started to rise again, and projections show that they are likely to keep on getting higher.

Furthermore, when you drive a car there are considerable environmental and monetary costs of transportation. Close to 30% of the greenhouse gases released in the United States come from transportation. Each gallon of gasoline burned in an average car’s engine spews 19.4 pounds of CO2 out the exhaust and directly into Earth’s atmosphere. With a gas tank size of 15 to 18 gallons, that’s 350 pounds of CO2 you’ve releasing every time your fuel gauge hits Empty. The less gasoline we burn in our cars, the better it is for our atmosphere.

Overall, significant long term financial gains can be achieved from riding an electric bicycle to work or to the store instead of taking a car, and with zero-emissions they definitely have less impact and are more environmentally friendly. As millions of consumers are learning, LEVs are really ideal for people who want to save a lot of money, are Green-conscious, and want to improve their health and stay in shape.

Go to a LEV store for a test ride and select a model that best suits your own particular needs. Once you start to change your lifestyle, you’ll never look back again. You’ll be saving money, improving your health, and helping to save the planet, all at the same time.

Ray Carrier has recently opened a Green Rider store in Fells Point in Baltimore MD that exclusively sells and rents a wide variety of the best and latest in high quality and performance state-of-the-art LEV products available in North America today. These include Motorino electric scooters, eZee Bikes (‘the Rolls Royces of the e-bike industry’) and PEDEGO umbrella folding bikes, BionX Intelligent Energy Management electric bicycle conversion kits, and Razor kick-scooters for kids. He has recently written a comprehensive 141-page guide book on How to Start Your Own LEV Business that is available for sale at $29.95. For more information about this, you can contact him at: info@greenriderusa.com Ray invites everyone to check out his cool products so they can join the Green Revolution and like him, adopt his business motto: Don’t Be Fuelish, Save Your Green - Be a Green Rider. Check out the website at www.greenriderrusa.com

Si rompe anche l’ultimo legame industriale tra Fiat e General Motors, quello relativo alla joint venture per la produzione di motori a Bielsko-Biala, in Polonia. Il gruppo italiano ha infatti deciso di acquistare il 50% della quota in mano agli americani e diventare così proprietario assoluto dello stabilimento situato nel Voivodato della Slesia, poco distante dalla fabbrica di Tychy dalle cui linee di montaggio escono le Fiat Panda e la 500, nonché la Ford Ka. L’accordo preliminare tra Fiat Powertrain Technologies e General Motors è stato siglato nei giorni scorsi. Torino, comunque, fornirà ancora agli ex sposi di Detroit i motori diesel 1.3 e 1.9 Multijet (quest’ultimo prodotto in Italia). L’intesa, fanno sapere in proposito da Fpt, «non avrà alcun impatto sulle normali operazioni produttive a Bielsko-Biala. L’impianto continuerà la produzione del motore 1.3 Small Diesel Engine per entrambe le applicazioni delle due case automobilistiche». Il motore 1.3 realizzato in Polonia è sicuramente il fiore all’occhiello della gamma torinese. Entrato in produzione nell’aprile 2003, equipaggia la maggior parte delle vetture del gruppo Fiat (Panda, 500, Punto, Mito, Musa, Idea, Ypsilon, Doblò), nonché i modelli più richiesti targati Opel/Vauxhall (Agila, Corsa, Meriva, Astra e i veicoli commerciali leggeri). L’accordo per il trasferimento delle quote è ora soggetto al processo di approvazione da parte dell’Antitrust. Il completamento di questo processo è previsto entro marzo, data in cui diventerà effettiva l’acquisizione. La decisione di Sergio Marchionne, da oggi nuovamente negli Stati Uniti nei panni di ceo della Chrysler, di far proprio il 50% della joint venture, è da leggere soprattutto in funzione della nuova alleanza con il gruppo di Auburn Hills e, in particolare, della necessità di fornire ai nuovi prodotti americani che sbarcheranno in Europa motorizzazioni più efficienti dal punto di vista dei consumi e dell’impatto ambientale. GM, dal canto suo, monetizzerà il 50% della joint venture in coincidenza con il rilancio nel marchio Opel, di cui nelle prossime settimane si conoscerà il piano industriale.
(Fonte: www.ilgiornale.it - 28/1/2010)

The Department of Energy announced today that 24 million hours of supercomputing time out of a total of 1.6 billion available hours at Argonne and Oak Ridge National Laboratories have been awarded to investigate materials for developing lithium air batteries, capable of powering a car for 500 miles on a single charge.

Through the Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) program, a research team including scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory and IBM will use two of the world's most powerful supercomputers to design new materials required for a lithium air battery. Lithium-ion batteries, used in today's emerging plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, currently have a range of approximately 40 to 100 miles.

The calculations will be performed at both Oak Ridge and Argonne, which house two of the world's top ten fastest computers.

"Computation and supercomputing are critical to solving some of our greatest scientific challenges," said Secretary Chu. "This year's INCITE awards reflect the enormous growth in demand for complex modeling and simulation capabilities, which are essential to improving our economic prosperity and global competitiveness."

The INCITE program provides a collection of unique computational resources that enable scientists and engineers to conduct cutting-edge research in weeks or months rather than the years needed previously. The use of scientific modeling can accelerate scientific breakthroughs in areas such as climate change, alternative energy, life sciences, and materials science.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason said the battery project was the result of two visits to Oak Ridge in 2009 by IBM's vice president of research. "From those discussions, it became apparent that our partnership had many of the unique capabilities needed to tackle a scientific problem as important and challenging as increasing by more than a factor of 10 the energy stored in batteries for transportation."

"Argonne is committed to developing lithium air technologies," said Argonne Director Eric Isaacs. "The obstacles to Li-air batteries becoming a viable technology are formidable, but the modeling and simulation capabilities of DOE's supercomputers will help us accelerate the innovations required in materials science, chemistry and engineering."

L’amministratore delegato del gruppo Fiat, Sergio Marchionne, ha espresso un punto di vista fortemente critico riguardo al futuro del marchio Saab dopo la sua cessione a Spyker, tanto da pronosticarne un futuro difficile. “Mi piace il marchio Saab”, ha ammesso Marchionne, ma “penso sia difficile essere un player di nicchia ed allo stesso tempo profittevole. I costruttori marginali continueranno a essere marginalizzati. Non si può costruire sulle speranze e sui sogni”, ha concluso Marchionne, precisando come Fiat non fosse più interessata al costruttore svedese. Riguardo alla cessione Saab, occorre tuttavia tirare per un momento il freno a mano. Spyker e General Motors hanno sì raggiunto un accordo, ma questo deve ancora essere legittimato in attesa di ricevere le dovute garanzie economiche: il governo svedese è infatti garante nel seguire il prestito richiesto da Saab alla Banca Europea per gli investimenti. Il passaggio di mano si concretizzerà solo a partire da metà febbraio.
(Fonte: www.autoblog.it - 27/1/2010)

With electric vehicles like the Tesla Roadster, we are interested in how fast they will go from 0-60 mph. Think announced today that it has teamed up with AeroVironment, Inc., a leading developer and supplier of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, to demo the company’s level III fast-charge system and the Think City electric-car.

The team held a 15-minute news conference at the 2010 Washington Auto Show where they charged a Think City from 0-80% using AV’s fast-charge system in 15 minutes.

“THINK and AeroVironment are setting a new standard for extremely quick re-charging – zero to 80 percent in just 15 minutes,” said THINK CEO Richard Canny. “This is a major leap forward for electric vehicles. The development and deployment of very-fast-charge stations will help speed the electrification of automobiles in the United States and globally.”

“For electric vehicles to achieve broad adoption as a practical alternative to gasoline-powered cars, safe, reliable and accessible charging infrastructure is necessary,” said Michael Bissonette, AV senior vice president and general manager of its Efficient Energy Systems business segment. “Our portfolio of true fast-charge systems, commercial opportunity charge stations, and overnight home charge stations will help drivers integrate electric vehicles, such as the THINK City, into their lives and realize the benefits of zero emission transportation.”

THINK also announced that it has chosen EnerDel, the Indiana-based lithium ion battery manufacturer, to be the exclusive battery supplier for THINK City electric vehicles sold in the U.S. through 2012. EnerDel also will supply at least 60 percent of the batteries for THINK City electric vehicles sold in Europe.

“EnerDel has developed an extremely energy-dense lithium ion battery for the THINK City,” said EnerDel President Rick Stanley. “This battery has been designed from the earliest stages of cell development to accommodate the surge of current required for a new standard of rapid charging.”

The AV level III fast-charge system employs a protocol developed by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). THINK and EnerDel have for several months been using TEPCO fast charging daily to quickly recharge development vehicles. This work has confirmed the suitability of the fast-charge technology and readiness for commercialization.

AV level III is a constant current 3 phase (200-430V) switching type power supply capable of 50-100 kW output at up to 200 Amps. The EV ECU determines optimal current; charger supplies current based on order from EV ECU.

THINK City, to be sold in the United States beginning this year, will have a top speed of more than 70 miles per hour and a range of more than 100 miles per full charge. THINK City has an onboard AC charger that can be coupled with an economically priced 220-volt THINK home charging station to provide overnight charging for the vehicle. It can also be charged using 110-volt current on a regular household outlet. The fast-charge system will be a supplementary alternative for customers’ added sense of security and for fleets with daily mileage requirements exceeding the car’s range.

“Our experience with more than 1,500 vehicles in use in Europe is that customers using the vehicle for daily commutes and trips around town quickly become comfortable with THINK City’s range of more than 100 miles,” Canny said. “For them, the standard over-night charging is a very practical solution. Fast charging’s importance will be for high-use fleets.”

THINK recently announced plans for a North American manufacturing facility in Elkhart, Indiana, where the company will build the THINK City beginning early in 2011. The new facility will be in addition to THINK’s current manufacturing capability in Finland, where it has contracted with Valmet to build the THINK City.

THINK expects commercial fleet customers in the U.S. to be among the first users of the fast-charge system, but also anticipates that commercial enterprises – including shopping malls, convenience stores and parking garages – will quickly see the value in offering fast-charging services for their customers as a way to grow business and to demonstrate environmental responsibility.

Work on the Flywheel based energy recovery system stopped in favor of other projects.

Despite Williams technical director Sam Michael stating in September 2009 that Williams would definitely run KERS in 2010, Williams Hybrid Power (WHP) boss Ian Foley revealed today that Williams will not be using KERS in 2010.

WHP stopped its program to concentrate on non motorsport programs. "Since we stopped the F1 program we have doubled the number of staff we have" explained Ian Foley at the MIA Cleaner Racing. " To do F1 again we would need to increase staffing levels."

Foley also took a dig at some of the anti-KERS faction in F1, "those who pushed KERS out were those who had fell behind." For Williams who's flywheel KERS system reportedly never made it as far as track testing, this sounds like a fairly hypocritical comment.

KERS is not banned in F1, though there is an agreement amongst FOTA teams not to use the systems this year. Williams September announcemnt marked tham as the only team expected to rock the apple cart but today news means they have fallen in line with all the other FOTA teams.

It remains to be seen if any teams break ranks during the 2010 F1 season. With refueling banned in 2010 KERS would prove a significant advantage allowing cars to consume less fuel over a race distance meaning they could start with a lighter fuel load.

Il 2010 sarà l'anno cruciale per ricostruire la fiducia nel marchio Chrysler, ha detto l'AD Fiat, Sergio Marchionne. "Queste cose hanno bisogno di tempo, ma penso che il 2010 sarà l'anno cruciale", ha detto Marchionne rispondendo, in un convegno a Stoccolma, a una domanda sulla ricostituzione della fiducia dei consumatori nella società U.S.A. . "Abbiamo bisogno di fare la maggior parte del lavoro nel 2010". "Abbiamo cominciato lo scorso anno, un pezzo alla volta, rimettendo insieme il valore del marchio", ha aggiunto. "Quando le offerte di nuovi prodotti arriveranno al mercato - iniziando dal secondo, terzo, quarto trimestre di quest'anno - vedrete la ricostruzione di quel valore in termini di vendite". Su Alfa Romeo Marchionne ha rinviato all'incontro con gli investitori, in programma il 21 aprile del 2010.
(Fonte: http://it.reuters.com - 26/1/2010)